Trump and His Allies Will Repeat Jan. 6 If Necessary  —  Michael Luttig is a highly regarded former federal judge with rock-solid conservative bona fides.  Appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, his former clerks include Senator Ted Cruz and John Eastman, the lawyer …

SpaceX Said to Fire Employees Involved in Letter Rebuking Elon Musk  —  In an email, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president, said the letter had made other employees “feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied.”  — Give this article- - - Read in app  —  SpaceX, the private rocket company …

Walmart ‘Cancels’ Mike Lindell's MyPillow, Leaving Him Raging  —  OH, THE HUMANITY  —  Walmart has given MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's products the boot from its shelves nationwide.  In a phone interview with The Daily Beast on Wednesday night, the pillow tycoon alleged that a Walmart executive …

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines for Children Down to 6 Months of Age  —  For Immediate Release:  —  Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine …

1 dead, 2 injured in shooting at Alabama church, police say  —  One person is dead and two others were injured in a shooting at a church in the Birmingham, Alabama, area on Thursday, police said.  —  The suspect in the shooting at the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills is in custody, police said.

Outrage as Montana's Gov. Greg Gianforte vacations in TUSCANY as historic floods devastate his state and Yellowstone faces ‘indefinite’ closure  — It was finally revealed Thursday that the governor and his wife were spotted at Casole d'Elsa - a hilltop village in the swish Italian province

Soaring gas prices lead White House aides back to brainstorming  —  Administration officials look at fuel rebates, emergency powers if diesel shortages materialize  —  Senior White House aides have in recent days explored new ideas for responding to high gas prices and looked again …

Belief in God in U.S. Dips to 81%, a New Low  — 81% believe in God, down from 87% in 2017  — Four in 10 believe God can intervene on people's behalf  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The vast majority of U.S. adults believe in God, but the 81% who do so is down six percentage points from 2017 and is the lowest in Gallup's trend.

The AP Interview: Biden says recession is ‘not inevitable’  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told The Associated Press on Thursday that the American people are “really, really down” after a tumultuous two years with the coronavirus pandemic, volatility in the economy …

Ukraine moves step closer to EU membership  —  Updates from BBC correspondents: Jessica Parker in Brussels, Joe Inwood and Nick Beake in Kyiv, Wyre Davies and Joel Gunter in Kharkiv, Orla Guerin in Donbas, and Steve Rosenberg in Moscow  —  Summary  — Ukraine's bid to join the European Union …

GOP loves parental choice - unless parents choose drag queens  —  There was a time when the only places queer people could congregate, and drag queens could perform their female impersonations and lip syncing, were seedy bars and nightclubs on the margins of mainstream society.

They Will Do It Again  —  Republicans have not been chastened by the revelations of the January 6 committee.  —  The January 6 hearings are about the events of a single day, but they implicate a much broader phenomenon: the Republican Party's faltering commitment to democracy.

Justice Dept. secures first guilty plea for threats to election workers  —  Travis Ford, 42, of Lincoln, Neb., posted multiple hostile messages on an Instagram page associated with the official, authorities said  —  A Nebraska man pleaded guilty Thursday on charges that he threatened …

Judge orders GOP candidate Ryan Kelley to surrender his guns, over his objections  —  Republican candidate for governor Ryan Kelley will have to surrender his guns while awaiting trial on misdemeanor criminal charges related to the U.S. Capitol riot, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

‘Life is short’: Ken Paxton faces backlash for suggesting Uvalde massacre was part of God's plan  —  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made another in a string of tone deaf media appearances in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, this time telling conservative radio host Pastor Trey Graham …

The existential threat to the Jan. 6 committee's credibility  —  “January 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put 2 1/2 centuries of constitutional democracy at risk,” House Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said in his opening statement last Thursday.

A top GOP pollster's take on the gun debate  —  Good morning, Early Birds.  Tips: earlytips@washpost.com.  Thanks for waking up with us.  Programming note: We're taking a break from hitting send on Monday in observance of the Juneteenth federal holiday.  We'll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday.

The criminal case against Donald Trump  —  The January 6th committee is doing the Department of Justice's work for it  —  The house's January 6th committee has a few aims for its public hearings this month.  Some of its nine members speak of leaving a historical record of Donald Trump's attempted election heist.